MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of assaulting a family member with a prior conviction.
On July 4, 2016, Steven Ormsbee slapped a 30-year-old woman across the face as she held a 2-week-old baby when she didn't bring home the food he had requested, according to court records.
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Court records indicate Ormsbee then violently took the baby, her car keys and her phone.
Without a way to call for help, the woman ran to her mother's home and called police, according to reports.
While on the phone with 911, the woman returned to the trailer where Ormsbee was and demanded that he give her the baby. When Ormsbee realized she was on the phone with 911, he yelled for police to "bring their guns," according to court documents.
When Willis police officers arrived, Ormsbee refused to exit, and they surrounded the trailer, according to police.
Police got Ormsbee on the phone and convinced him to exit the trailer, court records indicate.
When he exited, it took three officers to place him under arrest, according to reports.
“Ormsbee has demonstrated time and time again that he cannot be in society, and he’s one of the most dangerous kinds of offenders because he hurts those that he supposedly loves," the prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Monica Cooper, said. "Ormsbee earned every day of his 15-year sentence.”
At trial, Cooper presented evidence of Ormsbee’s prior criminal convictions, including theft from a person, possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest. The court was also able to hear that the defendant had been to prison once before for robbery, in which his victim was held to the ground at knifepoint.
Cooper presented evidence of the severity of the prior assault family violence conviction, which included the strangulation of his prior victim.
Because of the prior prison sentence, Ormsbee’s range of punishment became from two to 20 years in prison.
Cooper was also able to elicit testimony from the victim regarding not only the assault that night, but prior incidents of violence by Ormsbee against her.
The jury found Ormsbee guilty of assault family violence with a prior conviction in 40 minutes.
The jury listened to a call between the victim and Ormbsee, in which he apologized for the assault when he was in Montgomery County Jail.